Hot News Stories (12/30/13)

The Texas Tribune (Dallas, TX)
The Texas Department of State Health Services finalized strict new abortion regulations on Friday, claiming that none of the 19,000 public comments on the anti-choice rules provided evidence that they are unconstitutional.

The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD)
A group of Maryland nuns who claimed that the new federal health care law’s birth control coverage requirement violates religious beliefs are exempt from the mandate, a U.S. district judge concluded Friday.

Chicago Sun Times (Chicago, IL)
The law requiring school districts that teach sex education to include the teaching of contraception is one of the 201 new state laws passed and signed into law in Illinois during 2013 that will take effect Jan. 1.